If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Comment

Maybe they closed a research center in Germany, to have everything closer to home in the USA/Canada?

Just saying ...

You really think AMD will cut one of their source, albeit small, from the linux users? Server running linux count very much here too! Why would they stop linux support when they just said they'd fully support coreboot. Granted that's not linux but still.

Comment

Really hope AMD pulls through with it's core business intact, certainly can't blame them for shutting down things like this which is a luxury in the state they seem to be in. Losing AMD would mean Intel losing any direct competition on the x86 architecture which of course results in prices going up and as history shows, technological stagnation.

Comment

Wow, currently i use an AMD processor / chipset, my next pc will definetly contain an intel cpu, because of the good onchip GPU driver support for linux!

I think AMD already lost the CPU market somehow.. I heard something a 1,5 years ago, that most of the engeneers for the new cpu architecture left the company because of bad working conditions.. I think this is the root of the problem for AMD, they now just put more cores on a die and increase the clocking frequency / use smaller structures, this works well for 1-2 year but after that (now) good luck!

I think AMD should concentrate on the GPU-Computing market, they deliver more raw computing power / watt, price than NVIDIA, their cards are pretty commonly used, still NVIDIA manages to get theire marketshare by providing a better platform (CUDA)...

Hope next Intel CPU?s don?t get that expensive, but we can switch to ARM anyway in 2-3 years i think (linux users can). Thats not needed, but a ARM CPU is cheaper and the price is always a big factor in consumer electronics.. (i think thats the reason why window tablets are damed to fail with this 80$ licences / device). Why not buy an android tablet thats 100$ cheaper

Comment

The question you are not asking is whether they lost or gained money (short term, long term) with this move.

I think that they certainly gained in the short term (or they wouldn't close it) and possibly also in long term. Just laying off 20 developers gives them additional ~1-2 mln EUR/year to spend somewhere else, not to mention other costs involved in running a facility in Germany, which is neither a cheap country nor a tax haven. AMD CPUs won't stop working with Linux and there will always be people who they'll be able to contract (or who will volunteer for free) to add critical missing bits.

If we want to "punish" them financially, we could stop buying their hardware, but in fact this is a lose-lose situation. Linux users turning away from AMD stuff will disincentivize them to support Linux, while loss of our money (if it turns out to be noticeable for them, which I'm not certain of) will only make them lay off more people working on non- or less-profitable stuff.

Better think about what *you* could do to help others make money with Linux (e.g. pay for Linux version of software? Buy stuff with Ubuntu shops/SC?). If Linux becomes profitable enough, no one will be cutting short on its support ;-)

Comment

As announced during our last financial earnings results on October 18th 2012,
AMD is restructuring its business and building a more efficient operating model.
As consequence and as part of a global reduction in workforce, AMD GmbH is closing
its operations in Dresden, including its Operating System Research Center (OSRC)
as part of a full site closure at this location. We will continue to support the Linux kernel,
and the software development work happening at the OSRC is being consolidated and will be
performed at other AMD locations.

I would like to emphasize that AMD?s decision is not a reflection on the outstanding strengths
of Dresden and the mutually beneficial relationship AMD and Dresden continue to share,
but was merely driven by business realties on a global scale. As a matter of fact,
AMD continues to manufacture a bulk of its global microprocessor production in Dresden,
and we continue to work closely with our foundry partner there ? Globalfoundries ? on improving
manufacturing and design excellence.